Sonnel Hospitality has announced a comprehensive paid parental leave policy for employees – including casuals.
Western-Sydney based pub group, Sonnel Hospitality, has announced that a Paid Parental Leave policy has been added to its benefits offering. The company is offering eligible employees 14 weeks of paid parental leave for both primary and secondary carers, along with company-paid superannuation during the leave period. Distinguishing itself from other parental leave policies, casual employees and visa holders are also included within the policy.
Sonnel Hospitality’s Chief People Officer, Paula Hammond, said the policy was game-changing for the industry.
“In many companies of our size, there’s often limited provision beyond the government offering, and – as far as we can see – nothing offered to casual team member bases. They’re often excluded entirely. And hospitality is a large employer of visa holders, yet visa holders are often excluded, and they certainly can’t access the government leave either,” explained Hammond.
“So we wanted to be a little bit game changing, and we feel that we have an opportunity during this time to support our team members.”
When announcing the policy, the Sonnel leadership team also made the decision to give it team members retrospectively, so that employees who currently were on parental leave had access to the policy.
“Anybody on leave now was very happy to get a phone call. We’ve had examples of where that particular team member was about to return to work, but has now actually applied for an additional 14 weeks off to spend time with their child,” stated Hammond.
Supporting a diverse workforce
While there’s no hard and fast rule within the hospitality industry when it comes to parental leave policies, COO Tim Fitzgerald said Sonnel’s policy was aimed at supporting its own team, rather than looking at what compeititors were doing.
“We’re really focused on our own team first and foremost. We have been quite fortunate that we already have quite a diverse workforce within Sonnel. We identified that in maintaining that diverse workforce, a really key part of that was paying for parental leave,” stated Fitzgerald.
“I think certainly for the industry as a whole, we’ve seen higher female participation and particularly returning mothers since COVID. So it’s about ensuring that we are looking after what we think is a really strong feature of our business already.”
And while paid parental leave is often seen as a support skewed towards women, Fitzgerald said that the inclusive nature of Sonnel’s policy has meant that the company has received a lot of positive feedback from male employees.
“A lot of our initial feedback has been from men and the difference it’s going to make for their families, as it provides a sense of stability and career progression to people going through that period of life.
“Having kids can be a wonderfully disruptive thing, so this policy allows people to enjoy that and then come back to us.”
“I think increasingly, people value businesses that act with purpose, and employers that can support their people. The support for teams in hospitality continues to evolve with a maturing industry. We certainly think it’s an important thing for our team.”
Tim Fitzgerald, Chief Operating Officer, Sonnel Hospitality
The policy had buy-in from all of the leadership team, with Hammond stating that Sonnel CEO Simon Meers was the one to recommend including casuals in the policy.
“Casuals are a huge portion of our workforce. They’re integral to our success. Those Friday and Saturday nights, our busiest periods, that’s when all of our casual staff work. And many casuals have worked with us for many, many years. So to treat them as part of the family and as part of the brief was a no-brainer for us. We really wanted to acknowledge their own contribution and give them the same level of care and respect,” stated Hammond.
Investment and value
While the policy has been introduced with Sonnel’s current workforce in mind, Fitgerald admits that it does add to the group’s attractiveness to potential hires.
“Certainly it will form part of our employee value proposition. So hopefully in the market, people recognise it as being investment that the company has been willing to make in retaining the best people.”
“It’s an example of the culture that Sonnel is creating. When people are seeking new employment, they look for pointers or examples of culture in the business. And this talks to the broader culture of inclusivity within the company.”
Paula Hammond, Chief People Officer, Sonnel Hospitality
So while a paid parental leave policy comes at significant expense, Hammond says that the company doesn’t view it that way.
“We see it as an investment, we don’t see it as a cost. The return is in the form of reduced turnover, being that strong employer, being able to attract people with that cultural frame, and really having a more motivated and loyal team. So we’ll definitely track this through retention and employee engagement, and some other hire metrics over time.”
Employee reaction to the new policy has been very positive, with the “game-changing” policy already proving to be life-changing for some employees, as Fitzgerald explained.
“Not only have we already had people apply for the leave, but we’ve actually had some people reconsider having more family or having a family in the first place.”